Bare root fruit

If like me, you've never ordered a bare root plant by mail order, it is intriguing to see how it is packaged and sent to you. In my post this morning, I finally received my Blackcurrant 'Ben Sarek' which I ordered bare root from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

It arrived in a tightly rolled jiffy bag with a sticker saying URGENT - Bare Root Plant Open Immediately...

Once out of the jiffy bag, the stems were carefully tied with twine and the roots were wrapped in black plastic...



I unravelled the plastic covering to find a very established looking, wet, root ball...

The instructions basically were to plant it straight away, which is what I have done. I've decided to grow my blackcurrant bush in a container so that it can be moved around the garden to find the best sunny spot for it.

When planting, the uppermost roots need to be at least 3 inches below soil level as they produce many shoots from just below soil level. Lateral shoots should be trimmed back to 2 buds to encourage new growth and they like a high-nitrogen fertiliser.

So fingers crossed, the summer months should see a nice little harvest of juicy blackcurrants...

Glimmers of green

January has come and gone and the garden still looks decidedly bare and empty. I can't wait to get sowing seed and filling up the new larger border at the back of the garden.

I also have plans to make the garden look a little less like a building site (in the 18 months we have lived here the garden sadly hasn't had very much TLC and we are still living with dull, cracked concrete and bare fence panels - these will hopefully be soften though with new fern screening, blue slate chippings to cover the concrete and homemade timber troughs painted in bright, cheerful colours to help liven up our very shady side return.)

There are a few glimmers of green in the veggie garden however, so I thought I'd share these with you...

Shallots (under the mesh) and leeks in one of the raised beds - a few ornamental bulb shoots appearing in the front container and my small herb pot of Lemon Balm which has survived the winter...

Remaining kale still in the ground


...and a handful of snowdrops in what will be the wildlife garden